Category: Beaches

Platja d’Aro ticks a lot of boxes. This large long established resort town remains a popular destination for many different kinds of visitors. True the handsome beachfront (platja Gran) is its prime attraction, long, wide, and sandy. High-rise apartment blocks dominate the skyline a bit too much, a victim of rampant earlier development.

Droves of second-home owners migrate here to wait out the summer. It also attracts hordes of young night-clubbers from afar, being the only real nightspot destination of choice for many locals and tourists. Clubs like Michigan, Papillon, Zsa Zsa and Blow crank out cocktails and music till 6am. 

Drive down its main street at 7am and it’s surprisingly busy, as hungover youths stumble into cars. Their poor parents begrudgingly scooping them up-I’ve done the same!

Just a few blocks from the sea Avinguda de S’Agaro is its lengthy commercial hub which comes alive at weekends and most evenings. Crowds of people jostle for pavement space, window shopping or looking for sustenance. Platja d’Aro has a good amount and a mix of shops. Even out of season Sunday shopping is alive and well here, while Girona’s shops stay ghostly closed.

As a day visitor the chances of parking close to the beach are slim, within its maze of one way streets. One tip is to avoid taking the first Platja d’Aro exit, continue to the next one signposted ‘north’ and enter the town from here. If you find a paid bay you’ll end up having to pop back to feed the meter. We usually end up finding a free space further out and face a short walk in.

Not entirely starved of culture it has a few notable events throughout the year. February is Carnaval time and this place has one of the best I’ve seen. During July and August, every Friday from 11pm it has free jazz music, (Noches de Jazz) at one end of the beach. www.platjadaro.com

Escaping to the beach from Girona is easy by car. Once you’re out of the city and on the C-65 / C-31 road it’s only about 33 km to St Feliu de Guixols. Upon entering the town’s outskirts you can catch a  glimpse of the sea, way down below. 

Just follow the beach (platjas) signs which lead you onto a long straight road that runs parallel to the beach. There’s paid parking here, to your left and right in the blue bays, hard to find though at the peak of summer.

There’s a perceptible feeling of a working town cum one-third resort. Much a place for locals as for tourist visitors. Even off-season and wintertime it still retains a modicum of vibrancy. It has a bustling weekly general market every Sunday worth perusing. All over by mid-afternoon, ready for that perennial problem of where to go for lunch.

The long broad seafront esplanade smacks of a bygone era or former glory. The Casino La Constancia building along here (Rambla del Portalet) stands as a curious testament to the towns’ colourful past. The ‘stuck in the 50’s’ internal decor, it’s still utilised as a social / community centre. Worth taking a peek inside or stopping for a coffee.

Choose a suitable beach plot along the gently curving, well-groomed beach. Glance to your right to an elevated cornucopia of holiday apartment buildings, perched along its pine-strewn promontory. Crank your neck leftwards and the beach ends with the town’s port / marina area. 

If you decide to venture over there it has a worthy seafood restaurant, Sa Marinada. A further 15 minute curving uphill stroll will take you to S’Agaro, a much smaller upmarket chic resort.

If you’re staying in St Feliu for a bite to eat in the evening, stroll through its central areas starting at the Rambla, a short hop away from the beachfront. El Dorado is one favourite we keep returning to, but less so these days, as prices have risen beyond the ‘let’s eat out and not worry about the price’.

Friends who live nearby inform me that the pizzeria la Locanda Di Nonna Flo is also good.

Behind the seaside facade the interior town areas verge on the largely unremarkable scale as a 6. That’s not uncommon and rarely the real reason for a visit. St Feliu fulfills its duty and works perfectly fine as a beach-day-treat antidote to city living.

Part of the appeal of living in Girona is that we’re not too far away from the Costa Brava beaches. So many fine destinations that we’re spoilt for choice-a nice problem to have. 

That said we tend to stick to those beaches due east, from say, St Feliu de Guixols and up north to St Marti d’Empuries. Within this stretch there’s plenty to choose from, and no real reason why we don’t get to the more northerly places like Roses or Cadaques.

A trip to the beach for us is not just restricted to the summer, we go at all times of the year, understandably less often out of season. It’s a great tonic, beaches during the winter are deserted, often windswept and if we’re lucky enough, find a restaurant for lunch or a snack.

The resort of St Antoni de Calonge is about 40 min. drive from Girona, off the coastal C-31 road. It’s very much a seasonal town, full of second-home owners during the summer months and earthly quiet if you visit in winter. Mainly apartment blocks and thankfully not too high rise and some beachfront hotels.

I like the coarse, light yellow, grainy sand here and even in high season there’s room to move. It definitely exudes a ‘this is for us locals’ mood and you’d be hard pressed to hear any other voices except Catalan or Spanish.

It’s popular with Gironians as every time we visit we’re sure to bump into someone we know from Girona. The long seafront is the real attraction, split into three smaller bays by man-made rocky promontories. There’s a wide footpath that runs along the whole stretch and beyond, which will take you to the much larger next door resort of Palamos.

This path is popular with dog walkers, cyclists, joggers, skateboarders and busy with promenaders on a summer’s evening. The place is well served with seafront cafes and restaurants, Refugi de Pescadors (the fishermen’s refuge) and Restaurant Simon are the two most notable for their seafood. Nearby Palamos is an important fishing port with a daily fish market, so you’re bound to get a decent dish. 

When in season, Palamos prawns (Gambas de Palamos) are coveted and expensive. They have a reddish body, firm texture and more akin to a king prawn in size.

The sandy beach areas have lifeguards and roughly centrally located there’s a first aid station and toilet. Out of season the toilet is removed as I noticed when I visited one November. Where do you go if you’re caught short and no cafes are open? I think the local council needs to rethink this one.

We tend to park at the southern end of town as it’s a stone’s throw from the beach with more spaces. Parking within the blue bays is paid, the only annoying thing is that you get a maximum of 2 hours, so if you’re here for several hours it means popping back to keep feeding the meter.

If you fancy a pleasant long stroll then starting here you can keep on the same flat, asphalt, coastal path I mentioned above for the next 2 kms reaching Palamos eventually. It too has beach areas and a ghastly high-rise apartment block, which dominates and blights the beachfront view-in my opinion anyway.

Don’t expect much in the way of nightlife here, you’d have to head off into nearby Playa d’Aro for that. Driving out of here for 4km you might also want to check out the inland medieval hill village of Calonge.

www.calonge.cat

So you find yourself living here with dogs or visiting and wondering if there are any dog friendly beaches along the Costa Brava, within close proximity to Girona.

Ordinarly dogs aren’t allowed onto the majority of beaches out here. This rule is year round as the no dogs signs are still displayed even out of season. However this is Spain and rules here are looked upon more as a guide. 

We’ve been on many beaches off-season and during winter and a lot of times there’s hardly anyone around, let alone to reprimand you. Plus, if other dog owners are there too that kind of means it’s okay unofficially. That said I can’t always guarantee that a passing policia local person might decide to say something.

The first place I was told about by a dog owning neighbour was Platja de la Gola del Ter, loosely translated as the mouth of the river Ter, which is one of four rivers that runs through Girona.

Driving there is the only option in this case. On the road from Torroella de Montgri to Pals, there’s a small Gola de Ter sign indicating where you turn off. Stay on this country road for several kilometres, through apple orchards and flat rice fields. Signs of civilization eventually start to appear in the shape of the Hotel Picasso, which also serves up a decent set lunch menu. 

Keep going along this so-called road which quickly turns into a bumpy, dusty dirt road reminiscent of an African safari route. The track narrows and it’s time to keep an eye out for a parking space. We try to go as close as we can to the beach. Walk the short distance to the beach across a bumpy boardwalk between dunes to a sandy, narrow stretch full of patches of driftwood. Left and right the beach extends out as far as the eye can see.

On our last visit people had begun constructing small rickety looking shelters using the plentiful driftwood. Sandy beaches stretch out in both directions. Walk off to your left for 10 mins and you’ll reach the river mouth. The steeply curving, deep sanded banks appear to shift their shape from year to year, and the water is knee deep if you want to walk across.

Dogs are free to wander and you really need to be self sufficient as there are no services anywhere. If you fancy a dip the water here becomes quite deep as soon as you enter the sea. Early evening sees the arrival of beach fishermen. 

Platja de les Dunes, St. Marti d’Empuries

Head for L’Escala and take the road signposted St Marti. Go pass the village of St Marti, and take a right when you see a sign for Hotel Riomar. Going down this dusty side road you’ll see parked cars, during summer it can be hard to spot a free space. As you reach the bottom you’ll see the wide expanse of sand, with the Riomar hotel (which also allows dogs) on the right. Parking is a bit tight here so turn right and continue, as the road bends to the right there’s more space along here.

With the hotel behind you, the area where dogs are allowed is across the small iron bridge that straddles a gentle stream.

With dunes at the back this super wide beach runs all the way up to St Pere Pescador. During summer you have to share it with hundreds of kite surfers and it’s also popular with nudists too. But the beach is plenty big if you can’t bear the sight of bare buttocks or the odd birthday suit. Make sure you wear flip-flops or sandals summertime as the sand is unbearably hot.

No lifeguard here but luckily there’s a portaloo, a cool beach bar (summer only) with decent food and a good sundowner spot. If you fancy more eating choices, a gentle 15 minute walk will take you to the quaint small St. Marti, where we often end up for a late supper in its Placa Petita.

Playa L’ Estartit-Playa canina

Just before you reach Estartit, turn right towards the sea and follow this road ‘Caminassa’. It ends right by the beach and surrounded with holiday apartments so parking is easy enough. Walk onto the beach and you should see the space to the right.

During the summer there’s a dedicated roped-off beach area for dog owners which is large enough. Within eyesight you’ll see a beach bar but there’s no toilets or lifeguard here. Off season it becomes one big open beach again (image below). The seaside resort of L’Estartit is off in the distance to your left. We’ve done the long walk into town from here and it’ll take about 25 minutes. Wintertime can seem a bit desolate, often very windy and unremarkable, as so many bars and restaurants are shut. But it’s not as bad as other locations along the Costa Brava.

Let me just finish by mentioning the strangest thing I’ve seen on a beach. Well, that was a 3ft long pet lizard sitting on its owner’s towel on La Fosca beach, near Palamos.

What a dilemma to have, every time we think of jumping in the car and heading off for the coast the eternal question is ‘which beach are we going to ?’ It always seems to take ages to decide as we’re so spoilt for choice. 

Most locals have their favourites and there are plenty of smaller pretty coves and beautiful bays that not every tourist knows about. They’re usually a bit more trickier to access and we prefer the park-as-close-as-you-can approach. That’s mainly because we have so much beach stuff to carry, even with four of us to share the load. Beach chairs and umbrellas, towels, food, drinks and hold on to the dog.

Anyway, we’re always late getting up so by the time we’ve hit any beach it’s about mid-afternoon-that’s fine for us as we’ve just missed the scorching heat of mid-day and we stay until it gets dark, which in summer is close to 10pm. Locals however have a different approach, they’ll tend to go early morning, sit it out until 1-2pm and then beat a retreat for lunch or drive back home. 

For us there’s no better way to finish a beach day than have a few drinks at a beach bar (chiringuito) or pack the stuff in the car, quick change (well for me but not the ladies) and stroll down to a nearby taverna for some local seafood.

Beach No.1 S’Agaro. If it’s a quick dash to the beach you’re after then the nearest beach to Girona is St Feliu de Guixols which is nice enough. But we often prefer the nearby smaller, chic, sedate Sant Pol beach at S’Agaro. It’s very much a second residence/holiday home bolt hole for the better-off residents of Girona and Barcelona. The calibre of parked cars will testify to that.

Low-rise smart apartments, a smattering of seafront bars and restaurants facing a gently sloping sandy beach that sweeps around towards a wooded promontory. The whole picture postcard package could have been copy and pasted from a California tourist brochure. 

There’s paid parking right near the beach so no long trek to the sand. Stretch your legs and take a walk along the winding, wobbly, wooden boardwalk up to the swanky Hotel La Gavina. For anyone with added stamina you can keep going for another 25 minute push along the coastal path that will take you to another fine beach, La Conca (below). Summertime will reward you with the comforting view of a beach bar, the perfect pit-stop for a thirsty walker.

Beach No.2 L’Escala. Go early by car and you can easily fill your day visiting several different beaches here. This former fishing town comes alive during the summer months as tourists flock to its many campsites, and the modern Riells area is full of holiday homes and apartments. It’s commercial strip has the bog standard shops, cafes, takeaways and a decent family friendly beach that extends up to the marina/port area.

Alternatively jump back in the car and follow the signs for Montgo beach. It’s more protected and a better bet if Riells beach is too windy. Shallow water and a bit gravelly as you enter, small beach bar and other restaurants are just behind you.

If time is on your side grab your towel and drive up to the old part of Escala, where parking may be more of a problem. It has a couple of sweet, postage stamp size, shallow water beaches amongst craggy rocks. Platja Port d’en Perris is U-shaped and mostly gravel. A few minutes in your flip-flops will take you to a more sandy affair, Platja de Escala. Bars and restaurants are laughingly close and a top favourite of ours Grop is right here.

After recovering from lunch and partaking of the customary siesta you’ll be ready for the final leg. Still on foot, head north past Punta Romana towards St. Marti. This coastal pathway (Passeig Dr. Pi i Llusa) will take you past several very sandy beach areas or ‘calas’.

Platja Cala de la Creu is long and elongated. Next is Platja  El Rec del Moli (dogs allowed), through to Platja del Convent. All these are a bit wilder and off the beaten track but you’d have arrived in the tiny village of St. Marti with its one beach.

It’s recent claim to fame was as the place where Elon Musk’s sister got married with VIP guests like ex-President Obama. Sublime setting with its small church, stone cottages, narrow cobbled streets and close to the Greek / Roman ruins of Empuries. 

Famished or thirsty, head for Placa Petita a small triangle of eateries perched just moments from the church. A favourite sunset-stopping point for visitors at the height of summer, and the perfect place for a sundowner. How you get back to your car is your problem!